Fans are often disposed in electronic devices, such as computers, to cool the various internal components. Unfortunately, these fans do not adequately cool certain components within the electronic devices. For example, one or more fans are often mounted on a wall of the electronics chassis, yet the airflow provided by these fans circulates over the top of the components rather than across them. Insufficient air circulation results in higher temperatures for these components. This lack of circulation is particularly problematic for smaller components, such as random access memory (RAM) modules, chips, and other low profile modules disposed on a circuit board.
In addition, components in an electronic device are often not adequately isolated from one another. For example, a typical computer includes one or more processors, memory modules, option cards, disk drives, and other electronics, which generate different levels of heat within the computer chassis. Unfortunately, existing computers generally do not isolate the hot components, such as processors and memory, from one another. As a result, the fans circulate the air from one set of hot components at least partially over another set of hot components, thereby undesirably heating these neighboring components. This additional heat can lead to malfunctions and failure of these components.
The fans also tend to pass the air through the chassis without focusing the airflow on particular components. For example, a chassis often has a front fan to cool a first set of components and a rear fan to cool a second set of components. The problem with this configuration is that the airflow generated by the front fan bypasses the first set of components and circulates the air directly through the rear fan. As a result, the airflow is inadequate to cool the various components. The typical solution is to increase the fan speeds to provide the desired airflow, which unfortunately causes higher noise levels within the chassis.